


I'm feeling time moves slow

by JuliaBaggins



Series: Our favourite Exy players at the Olympics [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Memories, Nightmares, Olympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-26 18:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9915566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaBaggins/pseuds/JuliaBaggins
Summary: Jean has a nightmare the night before the Olympic semifinal...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elfiethewicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiethewicked/gifts).



> For my dear friend that encouraged me to finish this story that I started ages ago; hope you like how it turned out :)

The knife was cutting deep into Jean's chest, there was blood, and it hurt, but he didn't scream - Jean bit his lip until there was blood too, because Riko had told him to be quiet. This was unusual, as on most days Riko enjoyed his screams, but Jean knew better than to question him or disobey. He tried to focus on something that wasn't the sharp pain in his chest, let his mind wander...

And suddenly, Jean was standing next to Riko, and it was Neil on the bed, being held down by two other Ravens. He looked Riko in the eyes, hate being present rather than fear; there was nearly a challenge in his gaze, and Jean wondered how he did that, how he could look at Riko like that while the man carved patterns into his stomach...

Riko ordered Jean to get closer, to help holding Neil down while he cut him, and when Jean looked up from his bright blue eyes, he found Riko and him being alone in the room with Neil. Huh. He cast his eyes down again... And froze. _No._

Ice cold blue had been replaced by warm brown and Jeremy looked at Jean with pleading eyes. Jean found he couldn't move, couldn't do anything, and Riko's hands were on Jeremy, his knife was, and when Jeremy cried out, Jean did so too.

Jeremy was calling his name, "Jean!", but Jean couldn't do anything, he couldn't help him...

 

_"Jean!"_

There were hands on him, and Jean panicked, and with that, he woke up; tangled sheets in a hotel bed.

Jean was faced with Jeremy's eyes looking at him, but there was no pain in them, rather concern, maybe anger, and... something else.

They were just looking at each other, Jean tried to get his breathing under control, until Jeremy raised his hand. He did it oh so slowly, giving Jean the opportunity to stop him, but he didn't, and so Jeremy gently touched Jean's face and wiped some of the tears away.

Jean leaned into the touch and after a moment, he reached out himself, touched Jeremy's bare chest to make sure that his skin was still whole and untouched by Riko's cruelty.

"Can I..?", Jeremy whispered, looked at him in question and when Jean nodded, he was pulled close to Jeremy's chest, strong arms around him, a gentle hand playing with his hair.

"I'm so sorry, love", Jeremy said into Jean's shoulder, a slight tremor audible in his voice.

Jean said nothing, and Jeremy wasn't expecting him to. They had developed some kind of routine for Jean's bad nights over the years and though they were getting less and less, Jeremy still knew that it would be best to just hold Jean close and talk to him until eventually, he would go back to sleep.

 

"You're safe. He's dead, he can't hurt you anymore, no one will ever again. I've got you, I love you, we're together, we're at the Olympics, we’ll play our semifinal tomorrow, you're not there anymore, I’ve got you, we'll take a walk in the sun soon, you're safe, you're safe..."

"And you are."

Jeremy pulled away a bit to be able to look Jean into the eyes.

"In my... my nightmare, there...", Jean's voice broke and Jeremy placed a soft kiss to his forehead.

"You don't have to, love."

"I know, but I... I want to talk... The thing about the nightmare, it, it wasn't about me, Riko was... he was hurting _you,_ and I couldn't help you, I couldn't..."

Jeremy felt the tears on his cheek and tightened his arms around Jean.

"I'm here. I won't leave you. And that asshole won't ever hurt anyone again."

"Was that a curse, Jeremy Know?", Jean asked with something close to a small smile on his lips.

Jeremy couldn't help but chuckle at Jean's accusing tone.

 

"I love you."

"I love you too, Jer. Thank you."

"Anytime, mon ange."

 

The sun was shining brightly above the court where the United States’ team was playing their semifinal. The Australian offensive was the best they had played so far, and though they had watched records of all their previous games, it hadn’t really prepared them for facing their force on court. Their strikers were as skilled as they were rough, and the US’s defensive had a hard job to keep them in check. Jean was so busy with his opponent, a striker named Kelly, that he could hardly follow what else happened on the court. Except for once, when Andrew had caught a ball thrown at his goal with an impossible manoeuver, passed it once across the court to Neil, who passed to Jeremy, who did a trick their coach had recently come up with… And Jeremy scored. Jean saw him exchanging a high five with Neil before the game continued, and Jean had to focus on Kelly and her clever tries to get near Andrew’s goal again.

In the halftime, Jean finally had time to catch up with the score. The US were leading, 7 goals on their side, compared to 5 for Australia. It was close, and as far as he knew Australia now, they wouldn’t give up until the very last second.

Jeremy got down at the bench next to Jean, smiled an exhausted smile and gave Jean’s hand a squeeze. Jean smiled back at him and just when he opened his mouth to say something, Kevin appeared out of nowhere to congratulate Jeremy on one of his goals. Jean had to suppress the need to roll his eyes at Kevin’s enthusiasm and searched for something else to focus on. Most of their teammates were busy with talking, analyzing the game, but right across from Jean, Andrew and Neil were just looking at each other. 

They weren’t touching, not quite, but they sat really close to each other, and though their mouths were closed, Jean couldn’t help thinking that they had a whole conversation with their eyes. When Andrew’s gaze finally left Neil’s and he looked around, Jean hurried to look somewhere else and soon after, they had to go back to the court. Kevin got subbed in for Jeremy and so they just exchanged one more private smile before Jean got back to the court while Jeremy went to the bench.

 

The score had gone up to 10:7, US’s favor, when Australia started another attack. Jean was focusing on Kelly who had just gotten the ball so he didn’t notice the other striker in time, and before he could do anything to prevent it, Jean got slammed hard to the floor, six angry Australian foot on top of him. There was a call from a referee, and Kelly was shoving her teammate to his feet while furiously glaring at him – “What the _hell_ was that? You just got them a penalty!”.

Jean had just started to get up when a hand appeared in his vision and he found Andrew looking down at him, his usual bored expression in place. He helped Jean up and nodded before going back to his goal.

 

From his seat at the bench, Jeremy witnessed how Kevin scored their penalty and for the remaining time, he could hardly take his eyes away from Jean. Not for any of the reasons Jeremy usually looked at Jean, or at least not mainly – at the moment, he was not only looking at his boyfriend but also at a brilliant Exy defense player delivering one of the best performances of his career. Jeremy watched how Jean got in the way of Australia’s offensive again and again, slamming balls away from them and right across the court towards Kevin or Neil. And there was something about it, something about the way that especially Jean and Kevin played together – something that made Jeremy smile. 

Jeremy remembered the first months Jean had spent with the Trojans, how he would sometimes call Kevin to ask for advice when his newest team member shut in on himself. How he had cried half a night after Kevin had told him details about Riko and the Ravens he hadn’t known before, and how on the next morning, he had promised himself to be there for Jean and to never let him down. 

While he sat there and watched Jean’s brilliant play, Jeremy remembered all of their firsts – the first time Jean had shared a piece of information about himself (commenting on a song he liked), the first time Jeremy had been able to make him smile, the first time he noticed how Jean’s hair looked dark brown rather than black when the sunlight got caught in it. The first time Jean took his hand, a butterfly-light touch, their first kiss, the first time they tried to make soufflés together in their new flat (and failed). 

There was a list containing more points somewhere in Jeremy’s head, a list of precious memories he kept close to remember them on bad days, and right now, he was able to add two more wonderful first’s. The first time he witnessed Jean playing like he loved it and the first time they reached an Olympic final together.

 

The match ended, and Jean took a deep breath. They had won. They had won their semifinal, Australia was beaten, and this meant that Jean and his team would really play an Olympic final. His mind was still busy with registering this information when Kevin appeared at his side, a grin on his face.

“Nice play, Jean.”

“I could say the same about you, Kevin.”

“Are you okay? That striker seems to have hit you quite hard…”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’ve – It’s okay.” For a second, Jean had been close to say _I’ve survived worse_ , but he realized that this would do none of them any good.

 

Jeremy joined them on the court, proudly smiling, and as soon as he reached Jean and Kevin he slung an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Olympic final!”, Jeremy said, his voice higher than usual with his enthusiasm. And when Jeremy Knox sounded more enthusiastic than usual, well, that meant something.

"Oh my goodness, look!”, Jeremy screamed shortly after and both Jean and Kevin followed his outstretched finger towards one of the stadium’s huge video walls.

At first, Jean couldn’t understand why his name should be written there, but then he read the other words to.

_Man of the Match: Jean Moreau (United States of America)_

 

“Wha-“

Jean couldn’t finish his question because suddenly, Jeremy’s lips were on his, and he sure as hell would never complain about being kissed by Jeremy Knox, least when he was kissing him _like this._

In a far corner of his mind, Jean heard that Kevin said something, how the crowd went wild when the cameras caught their kiss, but it wasn’t more than a background noise. Jean’s full attention was on Jeremy, his soft lips, and he found himself smiling a bright smile when they finally parted. Jeremy leaned his head against Jean’s, a slight blush on his cheeks.

“I’m so proud of you.”

And there was so much warmth, so much adoration, so much love in Jeremy’s voice that Jean couldn’t help but pull him in again. For a short moment, his mind wandered towards last night’s nightmare, but it didn’t last for long. Because though the nightmares would probably never fully leave him alone, at the moment, he was okay. Or actually, more than okay – he was kissing the love of his life with whom he’d play for an Olympic gold medal in not more than a few days, and this was an _amazing_ feeling.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from James Blunt's "Time of our Lives"
> 
> Nice comments will make me very happy! :D


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